langdon- who's working over time and picking up extra shifts and not cherry picking and breaking his back to prove he's still a competent capable doctor. avoids robby like the plague, wins back al hashimi, teaches every student- even the fucking annoying ones. but still he makes time to watch out for his favorite resident- Mel King. he brings her protein bars, and makes her take breaks, and little print outs of medical articles she might find interesting.
santos- who is still repelled by him like oil to water- notices that he cares about mel. and she's caustic and rude and still cocky af but she cares about her mel-o-drama a LOT. so she puts her ego a little to the side (not like a lot though, he's still a dick in her head) and approaches langdon with a plan. a Make Mel Happy plan. langdon is suspicious but they eventually reach a reluctant truce.
once they get past their egos- they're obviously off to the races. like texting all the time about the little ideas they have- coordinating who's driving her after work, a list of movies with absolutely no will ferrell, karaoke v museums, boba v fruity teas, a shared notes app about her least favorite foods, bringing her lunch and making her eat with her coworkers, looming in the doorways of creepy patients while dr. king does meticulous sutures, competitively bombarding her with nerdy history facts or national park details, hanging with his kids and dog v dennis and santos roommate adventures, reading her favorite books to discuss with her and so on.
abby- who begins to get suspicious of the woman who always has her husband's attention. he texts her almost compulsively and is staying later at work and leaves the room to answer her calls and has all these activities planned with the kids and a mysterious coworker. (sure, she has her own affair going but she figures she was owed that after he got caught stealing drugs and so she's a little miffed that he has the audacity to cheat as well.) so when he's putting his lucky penny to bed after a disastrous nightmare had her crying in their room at 3am, his phone lights up at 3 am, she doesn't hesitate to peak over and see who the text was from. she proceeds to look up the PTMC directory to make sure she has the right person because she doesn't recognize the name.
the next day she storms into the ER, and walks straight past lupe, past dana's excited hello, past cassie trying to stop her, and makes her way to an oblivious blonde braid leaning too close to her husband for charting. everyone holds their breath, flinching at what's about to happen to mel. ahmad on standby but they get even more confused as she stomps past the duo and grabs SANTOS by her scrub top and says "are you sleeping with my husband?"
(yolanda spits out her coffee with how hard she's laughing. frank drops her hand from where it was playing with the end of mel's braid. santos gives him a death stare.)
